A RUSHMOOR taxi driver advertising a pub featuring female dancers has been ordered to remove the word "exotic" from his cab.

A RUSHMOOR taxi driver advertising a pub featuring female dancers has been ordered to remove the word "exotic" from his cab.

Jim Lyons argued that, according to the dictionary, the word meant "foreign, rare and tropical."

But borough councillors decided that it had a more salacious meaning when, as in this case, it was used alongside the word "dancers".

The council's licensing committee agreed he could continue to advertise "Tiffany's Dancers" on his taxi, but that he must not describe them as "exotic".

Coun Maurice Sheehan, committee vice-chairman, admitted that some members wondered what all the fuss was about.

But the majority decided that the word had unsavoury connotations when used in an advertisement for dancers at the pub, in Grosvenor Road, Aldershot.

He said: "We felt it was inappropriate for this word to be on a taxi when it was travelling around the town with elderly people and young children on board.

"I don't think we are being over fussy in deciding that this word is offensive."

Degrading

The committee made the ruling after receiving two complaints about the advertisement.

One was from a member of the public who said Mr Lyons' cab was often parked outside her home.

She found the advertisement offensive, and said it was degrading that visitors to her home had to park near the taxi.

The other objection came from a cabbie who said the advertisement was in bad taste, and appeared to break the council's licensing conditions.

Mr Lyons told the committee that, in his view, the wording "Tiffany's Exotic Dancers" did not breach the licensing rules. "In my view it merely advertises a public house which has obviously been licensed by the council," he said.

Furthermore, he said that no-one had complained to him about the advertisement.